Study: mobile phones are dangerous after all

Mobile phone radiation alters proteins in human skin

A Finnish study has shown that mobile phone radiation can alter protein expression in human skin, and is to investigate whether the same happens inside the human body too.

Protein study

A pilot study featuring human volunteers examined what effect local exposure of mobile phone radiation has on skin. The volunteers had a small area of the skin on their forearms exposed to the electromagnetic signals contained in mobile phone radiation (a 900MHz GSM signal) for one hour. Punch biopsies were also collected from exposed and non-exposed areas of skin.

The proteins of the skin were examined in detail by the authors of the study - Sirpa Heinavaara, Anu Karinen, Dariusz Leszczynski and Reetta Nylund - which was published in BMC Genomics.

The team identified eight proteins that were “statistically significantly affected”. Two of these proteins were present in all 10 female volunteers, showing that is “possible to find common, responding proteins among the all volunteers”.

“This suggests that protein expression in human skin might be affected by the exposure to mobile phone radiation,” the authors said. The number of affected proteins was similar to the number of affected proteins observed in earlier vitro studies, they added.

Whether the same effects on protein take place inside the human body is unclear and will be investigated further, the authors said.